Oh man, that's my favorite part of the song. It makes absolutely no sense at all. It's just nas being weird.

"Tell God to forgive me for one sin, matter fact maybe more than one, look back at all the hatred against me, fuck all of them. Jesus died at age 33, that 33 shots with twin glock, 16 apiece, thats 32, which means one of my guns was holding 17, 27 hit your crew, 6 went into you."

"One Mic" is a definitive hip-hop classic, but not from what you hear... but from what you dont hear. Ive got a lot to say about this classic, but lets start with the basics.

Beatwise, we get a soft sort of echoing beat with some unique bell sound effects, driven by a thumping bass kick, drum and clap loops, and some soft background violins, which slowly speed up and build to an impactful atmosphere, just before calming down once again for the chorus, which is as simple, yet decorative as possible. It repeats for verse 2, but in verse 3 it is a bit different as it does the opposite, lowering itself before reaching the soft chorus. Now production-wise, this is something that isn't common, but the beautiful part is that Nas' voice itself increases in tempo and volume along with the beat, as his anger gradually growls and silences, which is something that must be heard to be understood.

Now as for the subject matter, it seemingly revolves around street poetry and living in the projects, but not exactly. Upon close examination, a true Nas fan can find hidden messages beneath the poetry itself. Skipping past the first verse, which basically IS street poetry as he storytells about his lifestyle and the dangers of living in the streets, and the violence that comes with it, we get to the second verse, which is a work of genius in itself.

Nas decides to put away all of the gold chains and such, speaking that all that he needs in his life is a microphone to be powerful, and not money and women. We all know Nas' other nickname is God's Son, a.k.a. Jesus Christ. Hence the line "Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots" is not just storytelling, but speaking of Nas himself. Nas released this album at age 27, and announced he had three more albums in six years, hence when he retires, or "dies", in this case is age 33. Hence the lines: "Which means, one of my guns was holdin 17, Twenty-seven hit your crew" is therefore broken down like this. In counting from 1991, which is when Nas entered hip-hop when he was "27" to when he is set to retire, it is a "17" year distance. Hence the line "six went into you" speaks about the "six" years he has left in hip-hop. For the rest of Verse 2, Nas speaks about his mentality changing as a prophet to a gangsta, as he speaks about the shootings and variety of things he glorified on albums such as It was Written and I Am.

On verse 3, Nas breaks down the rest of his career as well as the battle with Jay-Z. Many people thought Jay-Z had virtually put Nas into retirement in the battle and that Nas had nothing in him to fire back and defeat Jay-Z, which explains the line "Thought I wouldn't have that a** done? Fooled you n*iggaz". Now for the line "What you call a infinite brawl, eternal souls clashin, War gets deep, some beef is everlastin, Complete with thick scars, brothers knifin each other, up in prison yards, drama, where does it start?", Nas uses the extended metaphor technique. The line chronicles Jay-Z and Nas lyrical war, sort of like a metaphor to a real physical struggle inside of what Nas calls a "prison", which is hip-hop itself. Now Nas explains himself that even though he changed on the outside, on the inside he was still Nasty Nas, with the lines "You know the block was "ill" as a youngster, Every night it was like a, cop would get killed body found in the dumpster". The "ill" line is a reference to Illmatic. After this legendary album came out, many fans wanted more, and he released It was Written, which began his fall into commercialism, and he speaks of it when he says "For real a hustler, purchased my Range, n*ggaz throwin dirt on my name", and then when he says "Jealous cause fiends got they work and complain", he is speaking about the fans not being happy, even though they are the ones who urged him to continue his career. Nas explains his departure from the jiggyness and the Nastradamus character when he says "B*tches left me cause they thought I was finished, Shoulda knew she wasn't true she came to me when her man caught a sentence, Diamonds are blindin" and claims he will NEVER sell-out again when he says: "I never make the same mistakes, Movin with a change of pace, lighter load, see now the king is straight, Swellin my melon cause none of these n*ggaz real, Heard he was, tellin police, how can a kingpin squeal?, This is crazy, I'm on the right track I'm finally found, You need some soul searchin, the time is now". One word: GENIUS.

"One Mic" is a definitive hip-hop classic, but not from what you hear... but from what you dont hear. Ive got a lot to say about this classic, but lets start with the basics.

Beatwise, we get a soft sort of echoing beat with some unique bell sound effects, driven by a thumping bass kick, drum and clap loops, and some soft background violins, which slowly speed up and build to an impactful atmosphere, just before calming down once again for the chorus, which is as simple, yet decorative as possible. It repeats for verse 2, but in verse 3 it is a bit different as it does the opposite, lowering itself before reaching the soft chorus. Now production-wise, this is something that isn't common, but the beautiful part is that Nas' voice itself increases in tempo and volume along with the beat, as his anger gradually growls and silences, which is something that must be heard to be understood.

Now as for the subject matter, it seemingly revolves around street poetry and living in the projects, but not exactly. Upon close examination, a true Nas fan can find hidden messages beneath the poetry itself. Skipping past the first verse, which basically IS street poetry as he storytells about his lifestyle and the dangers of living in the streets, and the violence that comes with it, we get to the second verse, which is a work of genius in itself.

Nas decides to put away all of the gold chains and such, speaking that all that he needs in his life is a microphone to be powerful, and not money and women. We all know Nas' other nickname is God's Son, a.k.a. Jesus Christ. Hence the line "Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots" is not just storytelling, but speaking of Nas himself. Nas released this album at age 27, and announced he had three more albums in six years, hence when he retires, or "dies", in this case is age 33. Hence the lines: "Which means, one of my guns was holdin 17, Twenty-seven hit your crew" is therefore broken down like this. In counting from 1991, which is when Nas entered hip-hop when he was "27" to when he is set to retire, it is a "17" year distance. Hence the line "six went into you" speaks about the "six" years he has left in hip-hop. For the rest of Verse 2, Nas speaks about his mentality changing as a prophet to a gangsta, as he speaks about the shootings and variety of things he glorified on albums such as It was Written and I Am.

On verse 3, Nas breaks down the rest of his career as well as the battle with Jay-Z. Many people thought Jay-Z had virtually put Nas into retirement in the battle and that Nas had nothing in him to fire back and defeat Jay-Z, which explains the line "Thought I wouldn't have that a** done? Fooled you n*iggaz". Now for the line "What you call a infinite brawl, eternal souls clashin, War gets deep, some beef is everlastin, Complete with thick scars, brothers knifin each other, up in prison yards, drama, where does it start?", Nas uses the extended metaphor technique. The line chronicles Jay-Z and Nas lyrical war, sort of like a metaphor to a real physical struggle inside of what Nas calls a "prison", which is hip-hop itself. Now Nas explains himself that even though he changed on the outside, on the inside he was still Nasty Nas, with the lines "You know the block was "ill" as a youngster, Every night it was like a, cop would get killed body found in the dumpster". The "ill" line is a reference to Illmatic. After this legendary album came out, many fans wanted more, and he released It was Written, which began his fall into commercialism, and he speaks of it when he says "For real a hustler, purchased my Range, n*ggaz throwin dirt on my name", and then when he says "Jealous cause fiends got they work and complain", he is speaking about the fans not being happy, even though they are the ones who urged him to continue his career. Nas explains his departure from the jiggyness and the Nastradamus character when he says "B*tches left me cause they thought I was finished, Shoulda knew she wasn't true she came to me when her man caught a sentence, Diamonds are blindin" and claims he will NEVER sell-out again when he says: "I never make the same mistakes, Movin with a change of pace, lighter load, see now the king is straight, Swellin my melon cause none of these n*ggaz real, Heard he was, tellin police, how can a kingpin squeal?, This is crazy, I'm on the right track I'm finally found, You need some soul searchin, the time is now". One word: GENIUS.

Nas decides to put away all of the gold chains and such, speaking that all that he needs in his life is a microphone to be powerful, and not money and women. We all know Nas' other nickname is God's Son, a.k.a. Jesus Christ. Hence the line "Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots" is not just storytelling, but speaking of Nas himself. Nas released this album at age 27, and announced he had three more albums in six years, hence when he retires, or "dies", in this case is age 33. Hence the lines: "Which means, one of my guns was holdin 17, Twenty-seven hit your crew" is therefore broken down like this. In counting from 1991, which is when Nas entered hip-hop when he was "27" to when he is set to retire, it is a "17" year distance. Hence the line "six went into you" speaks about the "six" years he has left in hip-hop. For the rest of Verse 2, Nas speaks about his mentality changing as a prophet to a gangsta, as he speaks about the shootings and variety of things he glorified on albums such as It was Written and I Am.

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Extremely interesting... are we sure this is only a theory? has nas ever confirmed this? I wish I wouldve known about this when i met him.. that woulda been extremely interesting.

Yeh I know... I get that part, but my question was how does Jesus tie in with all this... what does Jesus dying at the age of 33 have to do with all that... I get that he died at 33 and that one gun was holind 16 and the other 17 and so that equals to 33...